Hello! If you are reading this, I love you and I can't describe how happy I am that you have decided to read my story. This fan fiction was a Christmas present for my two best friends who love Kaz Brekker. It is also inspired by a song of my favourite group EXO. The song has a very suggestive dance that I recommend watching before reading. You don't have to but if you wish, you can search in YouTube EXO Artificial Love Dance.

Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy.

Inej never knew Kaz Brekker could dance. Kaz Brekker with his rigid posture, his limping leg and his icy demeanour. To dance you need passion and Kaz only seemed to passionately want revenge. Now he was standing several feet ahead of her, on a stage as if he had been born on it. He was still wearing his gloves but Inej could make out his slender fingers that had picked many more locks than they had touched women. Not that she could have guessed that from the way he moved some parts of his lower body. He had also put a mask to hide his identity and only his eyes were visible. They radiated confidence and experience Inej knew he did not have. She concluded that he was a good actor.

He said it was for a job and made her come and watch. In case something went wrong, he said. If he had told her exactly what the job was, she would have laughed aloud and throw him the most ridiculous look ever.

Why did he make her watch this? Was it some kind of revenge or a punishment? For what she said on the boat? She couldn't find an explanation for what she was witnessing at the moment. Kaz Brekker with nine more men she had never seen, on a stage wearing a thin, almost see-through white shirt, dancing to a suggestive song with a cane. Saints, it was not his cane, but a plain black one with some incrustations along its length. After a while she realised they were snakes, coiling around the wood and intertwining with each other. The song was playing loudly but Inej didn't pay any attention to the questionable lyrics, her eyes were locked on Kaz, who was expertly twirling the cane between his long fingers, while moving his body to the beat in a rather sinful way. His movements resembled a snake's - they were precise, smooth as if he was hunting his prey and sharp when it was time for the killing strike. He was coiling his body around the cane just like the incrusted snakes. Inej was aware of his well-built body before, result of the unforgiving life of the Dregs. He wasn't anxious to take off his shirt in her presence either, which she didn't know whether she should find offending or flattering. Now his broad shoulders, strong collarbones, the hard planes of his stomach and narrow hips were making her a little bit light-headed. Inej was trying to keep her composure, to calm herself down, unaware that the music was slowly reaching its climax. When Kaz set the cane in front of his body, leaning on it, and started slowly descending to the ground, Inej's breath caught in her throat, and when his knees hit the ground and his hips started their thrusting motion towards the cane, part of her wanted to hide her eyes with a hand. However, she did not because during the previous part of the dance, she was able to see Kaz only sideways, but now he was fully facing her. The room was dimmed, she was hidden in the shadows and Kaz had no idea which place she had chosen to observe from, but she still felt as if he was looking straight at her, baring her soul. After all, he never failed to sense her presence even when no one else could. She wasn't close to the stage but she could see the sparks in his eyes that lit fires in her. While he moved his hips, he kept his gaze in her direction. He rolled his neck too, baring his pale skin, his Adam apple bobbing as he swallowed and run his tongue over his teeth. Inej was torn between averting her gaze and continuing watching. She found it hard to breathe and felt a bit relieved (and a bit disappointed) when Kaz slowly stood upright, discarding the cane on one side and continued dancing. He turned around and broke the eye contact, but not before throwing one more look in her direction. After that Inej couldn't concentrate, her eyes were following his silhouette but not really focusing. Kaz, on his knees, Kaz, running his hands over his chest, the fabric crumpling under his fingers, showing slivers of his skin. Kaz, dancing like the boys of Tante Heleen. Then she found the dance repulsive, but with Kaz Brekker executing it, it was equal to art.

She massaged her temples and once the torture dance was over, she exited the room that felt hotter and stuffier than the incinerator she had to climb up back in the Ice Court. The cold air hit her heated skin and Inej shivered as the images on Kaz invaded her mind again. She climbed a building and started aimlessly going from a rooftop to a rooftop. The Wraith, who was usually as light as a feather and whose feet touched the ground as soundless as a leaf, now felt as if her legs were made of lead. Inej didn't know if the next time she saw Kaz, she wanted to rip him or his clothes to pieces.

3